New to Saltwater

Two questions, can I go ahead and get some live rock, say maybe 20 more lbs and add it to the tank now so I can get it started spreading to the other rock? Also were is a goo source to order from?
 
It's better to get the live rock now than to wait and add it later. Adding it later runs the risk of starting a cycle all over again.

The three websites that people have had good luck with are:

Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums
Live Rock - Tampa Bay Saltwater Aquacultured Live Rock
Salty Critter - Your Saltwater Specialists - Saltwater and Reef Aquariums Supplies and Equipment

I've ordered a lot of live rock from Live Aquaria and was very happy with what I got.
 
OK so I could order some live rock tonight, there is a WIDE variety and I am unsure as to what I should get.... Any ideas? I really just want a small piece maybe a 10lb piece just so it will spread. I dont need anything to Crazy or outta control....Man I wish I knew someone around here who had A Saltwater tank to buy a pice off of or to stick one of my pieces in lol....o well....:)
 
Well, it's not really worth it to buy just 10 lbs online, since you have to pay for shipping. Do you not have any fish stores in the area? Even though their rock is more expensive, you'd save money on the shipping.
 
OK, so Problem as to what to place into the tank fixed. 3 Blue Damsels:sfish:, I will be only cycling the tank with them. I didn't want to use the fish as I didn't want to keep them after the tank cycled, and it would be very horrible to like kill them:shock:....But my mother, whom I set a Freshwater tank up some time ago is converting to saltwater. I have most the gear for her to start except a prot. skimmer. I will use my established tank to help cycle hers and she picked out the fish color, so she will be happy with them. I didn't want to go the live rock way, I know there would be some bacteria on it but bacteria is free, it just takes longer to grow it from scratch:mrgreen: I was also afraid that during the amon. spike the cool stuff on the rock may die....
I tried to follow the advice on here and it has been very helpful, Please if you were one to suggest live rock and are much more advanced at this then me don't think I am a know-it-all type....The main determining factor was that the one store around here that still does saltwater is closed for a few weeks due to owners health...and the other store can order everything but fish are the easiest as his distributor didn't have any live rock right now.:grumble: And I didnt want to order such a small amount of live rock from online as someone mentioned, anyway they are doing GREAT and seem very happy, and not to mention beautiful, saltwater is sooooo much more colorful:mrgreen:. Thanks again for the info and help!
 
The stuff on live rock is pretty hardy. It will most likely survive the cycle. Live rock also contains more than just bacteria. It has pods, feather dusters, brittle starts,coraline algea, and many other things that are beneficial. Grab a couple good sized rocks and use it to seed the other rocks.

Brian
 
So do you have any live rock in your tank? If not, then adding fish is counterproductive. The good bacteria you are trying to grow mainly lives on and in the rock, not in the water column. Without live rock, and in a new tank, your cycle may be extra bad because there is no rock to support the growth of the bacteria, so your ammonia and nitrites are just going to rise and rise and rise, and the fish will probably die. And if you do add rock in the future, you will likely just start another cycle again.
 
I hope you have allot of s/w mixed. you need to do allot of water changes for the next few weeks. It would have been easier to cycle with fish food, plop it in the tank and wait
 
Ok so I got ahold of some cured live rock today. The store I got it from had had the rocks I got in a tank for about a week or two so they were well cured. Question, How fast will the live rock "Seed" or spread to the other rock that is not liverock? Cause it hasnt spread yet and its been in the tank for about 4 hours now ;-) haha. Anyway I have it running and cycling now, the rock should help grow bacteriaaccording to the folks on here so great! Any other Info I can use ladies and gents?
 
ummmmm, ya....if the rock was only in their tanks for a week or two, that isn't really all that long; it better have been cheap like $4 or $5/lb if that's the case. Was it purple in color with all kinds of little hitch-hikers all over it? It not then it might have been super salinated live rock, but it wouldn't be cured live rock which can go for $8-$9/lb for some good stuff.

As for seeding, it depend on what you are hoping to seed over; if it's just the bacteria then it should take about 3 days to 1 1/2 weeks, you'll know it's happened when your levels change. If the rock you bought was indeed purple (I would be surprised that it would be after only a week or two), it can take upwards of 3 months for coraline to start growing on your other rock. There are a few tricks that you can find on this site to help coraline spread, but first and foremost, you need good parameters & water flow. After that, to help speed it up, you can take a new, washed, and "Firm" rated tooth brush and scrub a small section of purple rock till you start to see some particulates floating around the tank; eventually those will settle on your other rocks and grow.

So unfortunately, you get the same old advice that you've been getting all along...just give it some time.
 
Ok I made an estimate on the time. It is really covered with pink/purple and green stuff so I must have been mistaken. IT is Fuji Live rock, and He charged me 7.00 a pound....I could take a pic if I get some time here, but I may wait another week and try the toothbrush method, maybe longer....Thanks for the info, noo hitchhickers yet. there was a hermit crab latched on that I wished he would have gotten but he fell off:grumble:
 
No need for pics...unless you want to :mrgreen:...I just wanted to make sure your LFS wasn't trying to :shock: you over. As for the hitchhikers, you'd be surprised what stuff you're gonna see crawling around your tank within the next week...tiny little brittle stars will actually start showing up on your glass randomly and potentially some snails too. As for the toothbrush thing...just wait till your Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates go down to Zero and then brush away :D.
 
Kid, i'm gonna have to call you out on that one, theres allywas a need for pictures! he might have something that i've never seen before, and someone might identify it, and then i might decide i want it, so i would know what to go look for in the LFS, so, pictures, allways! hehehe
 
project5k said:
Kid, i'm gonna have to call you out on that one, theres allywas a need for pictures! he might have something that i've never seen before, and someone might identify it, and then i might decide i want it, so i would know what to go look for in the LFS, so, pictures, allways! hehehe
Click to expand...


Hence why I said "...unless you want to :mrgreen:"; I was hoping to see some pictures, but I didn't/don't want Castor to think I NEED photos to believe what he was telling me.
 
Lol, shananagins on the forum, I have been swampped but will get some pics in soon. Now that it is in the tank, I havent see 1, not 1 hitchhiker!:grumble: Maybe I jsut havent caught one with my eye yet but I know there were many in he LR tank at my LFS....Jsut my luck to get the rocks that had nothing on them:frustrat:, potentially. Anyway it seems that there is more green on the rocks alreasy, I supposed I could be wrong but who knows as I am new to this....:mrgreen: But wondering where to go from here? I would assume its just a wating game from here on out....right? And for the future what would be a good invert/cleaning crew for this tank?
 
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CastorTroy2150 said:
I would assume its just a wating game from here on out....right? And for the future what would be a good invert/cleaning crew for this tank?
Click to expand...

:bounce: YOU GUESSED RIGHT!!!!!! Sorry :ugh:

Right now you're gonna sit for about 3-5weeks meow testing you're water (I would say once a week meow because it's not like you're gonna kill anything right meow, but most will tell you every day to every other day or meow). You're gonna see your Amon-meow spike, then go down while you Nitrite spikes, and then when that goes down your Nitrate is going to go up meow, that's when you're gonna want to do you're first water change of 10-15%; then your gonna re-test your water meow, and when you Ammon-meow, Nitrite, and Nitrate are 0, hopefully your PH will be somewhere around 8.2-8.4 and you'll be able to add fish meow.

As for Biff...thanks for the memories; I had a friend, who's more like the group tag-along and we used to call him Farva :mrgreen:

Oh, and........MEOW!
 
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I used to do that too when I worked sport chalet, "Meow if you take a look at these ski boots right meow"...and so on :lol:
 

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